This application relates generally to the field of market analysis. More specifically, this application relates to methods and systems for managing business representative distributions.
Many businesses approach marketing of their goods and/or services in the same general fashion, i.e. by assigning representatives to be responsible for specific geographical areas. The task of each such representative is therefore narrowly defined. The representative is responsible for monitoring the activity of individual locations (such as stores) where products are provided, the activity of competitors within the geographical area, and for marketing his business's goods and/or services in that geographical area. Limiting the scope of each representative's duties in this fashion permits the business to participate effectively in activities in large geographical areas by ensuring that each representative is responsible for only a manageable portion of the large geographical area. In addition, evaluation of the performance of individual representatives may be determined by comparing the performance of each representative in his assigned area with the average performance of all representatives assigned to comparable areas.
When the total size of the area being covered by the business is large, such as for the entire United States, and the number of representatives is correspondingly large, the administration of the system itself may become cumbersome. Demographic changes in population, changes in business strategy, changes in sales volume at individual store locations, changes in personnel that comprise the representatives through termination, hiring, and attrition, and the effect of different experience levels resulting from those changes, may all need to be accommodated by periodic reassignment of representatives. In some instances, it may even be desirable to modify the manner in which the geographical area itself is partitioned. There is accordingly a general need in the art for methods and systems for managing a geographical distribution of business representatives that permits such reassignments and modifications to be performed easily and effectively.